


no excuses

by artenon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 17:19:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15005642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artenon/pseuds/artenon
Summary: Full disclosure, Tetsurou has been desperately thinkingI love you at Tsukishimasince less than a month into their relationship. He’s been doing an admirable job holding back, if he does say so himself.





	no excuses

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I fell in love with haikyuu again and I'm participating in [sportsfest](http://sportsfest.dreamwidth.org/) this year! This is my first time participating in this sort of event, so I'm on the non-competitive Team Grandstand.
> 
> this is a prompt fill for bonus round 1! i still love kurotsuki very much, so i was happy to see a prompt for them that was right up my sappy alley :^)
> 
> Prompt:   
> TIME: just after Kuroo says "I love you" by accident the first time  
> PLACE: the corner outside the apartment

_Well, crap_ , Tetsurou thinks. He didn’t mean to say that.

It’s not that he didn’t mean the words, he just didn’t mean to say them _right now_. Tsukishima is surprisingly shy when it comes to matters of the heart—or perhaps it’s not surprising, considering how often he guards his feelings, masks them with sarcasm and nonchalance, wary of getting hurt. And Tetsurou knows himself, knows he falls too hard, too fast, and that can be overwhelming for a lot of people.

They’ve only been dating for a few months, a relationship built on daily text messages and once-weekly LINE video calls, the rare visit. Not enough, and yet between the aching yawn of _missing missing missing you_ , Tetsurou has never felt so full.

Full disclosure, Tetsurou has been desperately thinking _I love you_ at Tsukishima since less than a month into their relationship. He’s been doing an admirable job holding back, if he does say so himself.

A sampling of occurrences after which Kuroo Tetsurou has restrained himself from declaring his undying love for Tsukishima Kei:

  1. Tsukishima initiating their daily text messages for the first time with an innocuous _good morning_
  2. Watching Tsukishima kill Ushiwaka’s spike on national television (Tetsurou had, of course, been live-texting Tsukishima his reactions the entire time, which meant that Tsukishima was greeted with somewhere between 80 and 90 texts when he checked his phone after the game)
  3. A text message with a photo of a sunset, no caption
  4. A LINE exchange consisting entirely of cutesy stickers (he’s still not sure if Tsukishima was being sarcastic or what, but it doesn’t matter)



So why couldn’t he hold himself back this time, standing at the corner outside his apartment, about to see Tsukishima off? Is it because of the way his buffalo plaid scarf just covers his chin, the way his cheeks and ears are tinged pink in the crisp morning air? Because he’s still stuck on waking up next to Tsukishima after spending the night together for the first time, Tsukishima’s soft starlight hair tickling Tetsurou’s neck as he unconsciously snuggled closer, the little smile and sleepy kiss pressed to the corner of his mouth after he woke up?

Tetsurou can and will wax endless poetic about this boy, but the truth is far more self-centered: Tetsurou is very, very much in love, and he said it because he’s been thinking it in endless litany, because he doesn’t want the first time he says it to be over text; or in a time, place, or way that could be interpreted as anything less than serious. He said it because his heart might have burst if he didn’t. He said it because he _needs_ Tsukishima to know, even if it’s too soon, even if it scares him. He said it as involuntarily as the way his hand reached out to grab Tsukishima’s, that silent _I don’t want you to go, please stay with me_.

He braces himself for the fallout, the panic, the _we’ve only been on like two proper dates_ , the _I don’t think I’m ready for this level of commitment_ , the _this long-distance thing isn’t going to work_ , every reason Tetsurou has imagined Tsukishima might reject him, and every reason he’s decided doesn’t matter in the face of how full his heart feels when he’s with him.

He doesn’t get any of that, though. Tsukishima stares at him, eyes wide behind his glasses, the pink in his cheeks spreading, but then his hand squeezes Tetsurou’s and his shoulders seem to loosen in what Tetsurou daren’t call relief, and he hugs Tetsurou the tightest he ever has. Tetsurou loves back-breaking bear hugs, but he gets those from Bokuto, not Tsukishima. Tsukishima hugs lightly, maybe with one quick, tight squeeze if the situation calls for it, but nothing like this, this sustained, squeeze-the-breath-out-of-you hug, and Tetsurou inexplicably kind of wants to cry.

“Me too,” Tsukishima whispers, breath warm against Tetsurou’s ear. “I love you, too.”

No panic, no denial, no excuses. Tetsurou’s heart jumps at the realization that _he can have this_ , and then drops at the immediately following realization that, instead of holding himself back from saying _I love you_ , he’s now going to have to constantly restrain himself from dropping down onto one knee and proposing on the spot.

Oh, well. He’ll deal with it. Besides, maybe when he isn’t able to stop himself the next time, Tsukishima will surprise him again.


End file.
